It was a good tense game between two evenly matched teams. I enjoyed it but really felt it was marred by some very dodgy decisions.

It’s not the first time St Helens have won a GF by 2 points when they should have conceded a kickable penalty in the last couple of minutes. The winning try, all be it a rule I dislike had an offside player within 10m. Why do we give those all year then ignore it in the semi.

The makinson yellow was really harsh, first contact was clearly on the shoulder and he slipped up. I suppose it may have been given as it was a try scoring opportunity but if that was the case why was it not a penalty try?

There’s 2 rules we really need to look at for next year. 6 again on the first tackle is nonsense, teams are just holding down until the defence is set as they know there is no punishment for doing so. Needs to be a penalty on the first tackle. We really need to get to grips with shepherding on kicks.

We’ll done to them over the hill, they probably edged the game to be fair.

More diving than the olympics as well nowadays.

That's Saints with three on the bounce, seems a long time since they lost five in a row!
Our new coaching team have seen the level we have to achieve for a Grand Final win!
Can it be done? Too right it can!

It’s really not that higher level to achieve. They are the best team in the competition but not that special in comparison to previous dominant sides. They are big, fit, run and tackle hard and generally do the basics well but not a lot more.

That said, they are far, far ahead of us based on this season.

That’s some incredible positive reaching for what we have put together for next year. We don’t have the fitness/size/ability to compete at that level.

We showed 12 months ago that we can compete, we have just gone backwards massively in that time.

Exactly. We benefited from covid in a way others did not. I’d rather look forward to what’s in store to be honest. With absolute dread.

I agree the Makinson yellow was harsh. I did wonder of there's was an element of totting up there, as he'd already been pinged at least twice before. The offside player thing, I dunno, I'll have to re-watch it.Should we criticise Davies' positioning? Should he have been on the side-line, or is that harsh?

Denies a try scoring opportunity so it's a yellow.

The simple truth is that because of the financial situation of the last three seasons or so, the club has fallen behind the playing level of St Helens and now Catalan and it is not just confined to the men's game, but also the womens game where they have slipped from being in the top three club's to fifth.

The quality level of both squads in the same period has not been to the standard expected by Wigan supporters and needs to be rectified by the club, if it wants to get back to the success of the past.

IL and KR have provided the coaching team, now they also need to provide a squad of better and bigger players in both the men's and the women's games.

The women’s game is much easier to manipulate. Look at the Saints squad and then suddenly everyone seemingly going to York at one point. There aren’t enough girls playing yet to keep the game as competitive as it needs to be.

Enjoyed the day and the game. It was much much closer than I expected and I probably felt Catalans were slightly unfortunate to get beat. The lads with that GF experience, who they needed to stand up did and they nearly got the job done. As for Saints you absolutely cannot take anything away from them and an achievement of doing three in a row is pretty special. Their level isn’t anything teams should be intimidated by but there is work to do for everyone to catch up. They are so consistent in the their basics and after a few blow ups under Holbrook in big games, they’ve now learned to stay calm and not panic in big moments.

Here’s to a more normal season for the whole game next year and hopefully an improved one for us.

Guasch is not happy https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ca ... -referees/ I forgot about the Matautia one. Under today’s rules he should seen red.

Guasch is not happy https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ca ... -referees/ I forgot about the Matautia one. Under today’s rules he should seen red.

Quote ="Trainman"Guasch is not happy https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ca ... -referees/ I forgot about the Matautia one. Under today’s rules he should seen red.'" While it was a nothing punch, it was certainly a punch, which is a red card under current rules. The foot in touch thing was laughably ridiculous. I can forgive the ref for missing it, but his touch-judges? The video ref? It won't change anything result-wise, but that level of incompetence needs investigating and punishments should be handed out. But let's be honest, it's a bit rich the Catalan owner complaining about rule-breakers. Someone remind me again how he secured Sam Tomkins' signature?

Quote ="Trainman"Guasch is not happy https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ca ... -referees/ I forgot about the Matautia one. Under today’s rules he should seen red.'" While it was a nothing punch, it was certainly a punch, which is a red card under current rules. The foot in touch thing was laughably ridiculous. I can forgive the ref for missing it, but his touch-judges? The video ref? It won't change anything result-wise, but that level of incompetence needs investigating and punishments should be handed out. But let's be honest, it's a bit rich the Catalan owner complaining about rule-breakers. Someone remind me again how he secured Sam Tomkins' signature?

only 45,000 there the lowest gf crowd apart from last years behind closed doors since 1998

Punches aren't automatic reds. It's a bin for me. Foot in touch - not a situation where the ref or video ref can step in. It's all on the TJ.

I don't think many people know that. I certainly didn't until an incident at Cas when a TJ claimed a ball had bounced in-play and gave a 40/20 when it was out on the full by miles. I think they scored off it too IIRC.

Hardly surprising that there was a poor crowd when one of the finalists was from the South of France and only had a support of around 1,500 willing to travel to Manchester.

If Wigan or some of the other better supported Super League clubs had been in the final, the attendance would have been more like 60,000 or even more!

No issue with the attendance. I was there and was surprised how good it felt tbh. Walking down to the ground was busy and as I was in the bottom tier at the Catalans end, it didn’t feel too bad at all, as I couldn’t see the upper tier at that end.

Ultimately put a Leeds, Wigan, Wire or pretty much any other English club in and you can tag 15-20,000+ fans on and it’s much of a muchness with other years.

Yeah even if the ref sees that the TJ is clearly wrong on a touch decision, he can't do anything unless it's a try decision when he can send it to the VR if they have one.

Answered the age old question of "why is he going to the screen, the TJ is right there"

We went into Manchester then to Salford Quays and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of fans in both areas. Obviously not as many as previous finals but still a fair turnout.
Atmosphere on the ground was pretty decent too

Well yeah there is that, more commonly the TJ will play it safe and say "I've got a try but check touch and grounding." the ref knows he can't give touch himself so won't even be focusing on it.

Is there a point you're trying to prove highlighting this?

He's been on this forum for 15 years and I don't think ever made a point.